Trust in Telemarketing

We need to talk about trust.

Trust in telemarketing seems an alien concept to many, but it’s key to establishing a good relationship with prospects over time, and eventually converting them to an appointment.

So how do you establish trust in a cold call situation? Let’s look at some tactics…

Trust is in the script

One of the very first things a telemarketer needs to do is establish trust in the organisation you are representing. The first step is to establish credibility – this should be through businesses that you already work with.

Trust is established much more easily if those organisations are from the same industry as the recipient of the call – and this implies that you have profiled your data in order to optimise your campaign for a better response. The first reaction would be “they’ve worked in my industry before, this could be an opportunity.”

Trust comes through the script in many ways. The way you talk, your grammar, the lack of pushiness, and the relevance to your prospect. If you’re coming through as professional, and have provided sufficient evidence that you are not representing a fly-by-night company, then you’ve won the first battle.

If you promise something…

… do it. One of the most successful telemarketing secrets of all time is the promise. If you say, for instance, that you’ll call at a specific time on a specific date – and do so, you’ll impress your prospect to such an extent that a) you’ve got their trust, and b) you should be able to get an appointment.

This works particularly well when a prospect isn’t ready to meet. Indeed, most prospects aren’t ready to meet just yet – but if they give an indication that they might be ready to talk further in, say, 6 months – suggest a date and a time 6 months down the line.

Be ready to commit to this – put it in your diary. Set alerts. Leave post-it notes. Use your CRM. Whatever you have to do – do it. And in exchange, ask them if they’d be prepared to meet with you if you call at that exact time on that precise day.

Know your industry, but know your limits…

The worst kind of telemarketing data list is one where you have multiple different industries, with multiple different levels of contact.

This means that you have multiple messages – or at least, you should have. Good data profiling should leave you with one or similar industries, and one or similar job roles to target, meaning that your script is honed to perfection. Within that script, you have to demonstrate that you know what your prospects are experiencing – what keeps them up at night.

If you can demonstrate an understanding of their key issues – whether it be people, technology, financial, etc., then you have their ear – and hopefully, their trust.

However, know your limits. You can only go so far – if the conversation gets into too much detail, this is an opportunity to close an appointment. No telemarketer can know everything about every industry – but should know when to say “this is exactly why we should book an appointment”.

Trust is central to B2B Telemarketing. With high-value relationships to be built, and long sale cycles, busy prospects don’t want to be interrupted by irrelevant messages from people they don’t know. Establishing an initial relationship requires solid weight of evidence, delivery of results, and knowledge.